


The Gingerbread House

by BlueJackRabbit



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Coffee Shops, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, Kuroneki | Black-haired Kaneki Ken, No Spoilers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27904270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueJackRabbit/pseuds/BlueJackRabbit
Summary: Kaneki tries to bring Christmas cheer to Anteiku.
Kudos: 7





	The Gingerbread House

Kaneki kept fumbling with the gingerbread house he had brought to assemble at Anteiku. “I can't get this roof to stay.” he complained as the roof pieces kept sliding off. It seemed that to properly assemble a gingerbread house, one would have to defy gravity. “I don't understand why you bought that thing if you're not going to eat it.” Touka inquired. “A lot of times you don't even end up eating it, cause it'll be stale by then. Sometimes people will even buy them discount after Christmas, then wait till next year to put them together, they're not edible anymore by then, though.” He explained.

Hinami came running down the stairs “Can I help?”.

He started to show her all the different candies and their constructional or decorative purposes. The whole idea of “gingerbread” was foreign to her. She stared in fascination at all the colorful candies. “It seems like kind of a waste, to me.” Touka said, while she began drying off dishes with a towel. “It's for decoration” he explained, “and its fun to put together.” One of the roof pieces broke in half and Kaneki tried to glue it back together with icing, creating a sugary mess. “It doesn't look fun.” she commented.

“We can make gingerbread men for the customers!” Hinami said, and quickly took a liking to the multicolored sprinkles. Touka wasn't sure how to react to Kaneki bringing Hinami such joy through a bizarre, wasteful tradition. “Um... You guys are making a mess.” she pointed out, as sprinkles and crumbs went flying everywhere. “Oh! I'm sorry!” he said and started to sweep up some of the candy particles off the counter with his hand and sprinkle them at the base of the gingerbread house.

Hinami was still intent on experimenting with frosting, when suddenly, the bell above the door jingled. Kaneki glanced over to see who -

“Mr. Tsukiyama!” Hinami was the only one who seemed excited to see him. He was wearing a rather festive red and white pinstriped suit, making him look like a giant candy cane. Touka looked up and down his particularly pepperminty attire. “What do you want?” she asked.

Before he could answer, his smile slowly faded to a look of pure distaste as his eyes met the sugary apocalypse that was taking place on the counter. He nearly dropped the pot of poinsettias he was carrying.

_How could this be considered food? Or even architecture? These people had no class._

Frosting oozed from every crevice, all over the deformed house. Blotches of the pasty substance covered their crumby hands as well as the counter, which was equally crumby, sticky with frosting, and strewn with sprinkles and gumdrops. The overpowering, sickeningly sweet, sugary, high fructose corn-syrupy scent of Christmas filled his nostrils making him want to vomit.

“We're making a gingerbread house!” Hinami exclaimed.

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote this a few years ago and posted it on some other sites that I never stayed on and took it down. It was just a completely random unplanned story that ended up being one of my favorite things I've written to this day... I think it just really captures the whole gingerbread experience. For awhile I've been meaning to give it more context and make it part of a longer Christmas fic, but still haven't yet, although I do have some ideas. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.


End file.
